Can television bring down a dictator? Evidence from Chile’s “No” campaign

Felipe González and Mounu Prem

Journal of Comparative Economics, 2018, vol. 46, issue 1, 349-361

Abstract: Can televised political advertising change voting behavior in elections held in authoritarian regimes? We study the case of Chile, where the opposition used television campaigns weeks before the election that ended the seventeen-year dictatorship known as the Pinochet regime. Using national surveys conducted before the election and administrative electoral data, we provide evidence of a positive effect of television exposure on opposition votes. When compared to similar estimates in democracies, the effect of campaigns in Chile appear large. These results suggest that televised political campaigns can help to defeat dictators at the polls.

Keywords: Television; Dictatorship; Elections; Transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Working Paper: Can Television Bring Down a Dictator? Evidence from Chile’s “No” Campaign (2017)
Working Paper: Can Television Bring Down a Dictator? Evidence from Chile's “No" Campaign (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:46:y:2018:i:1:p:349-361

DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2017.11.005

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